Chapter 36 - The Surrogate

Chapter 36 - The Surrogate

2 Months

Kimmie watched Soujin as she plopped down at the Nurse's station.

"Oh Jinny, you look horrible. Can I get you some Ginger Ale or rice or something to calm your stomach?" Kimmie said as she gave Jinny a partial hug.

Soujin was out of breath, "I hate this thing, it hates me. This is strictly a professional relationship. We have NO love for each other." Soujin jumped up from her desk again and ran towards the Ladies room.

"Ahhh, Nurse Killjoy, how are you today?" Jungkook appeared at the Nurse's station holding a bouquet of pink Roses. He slid behind the counter and gave Nurse Kimmie Shue, aka Nurse Killjoy, a kiss on the cheek. "These are for you." He handed her the roses. "Where's Soujin?" Jungkook looked around for her.

"Puke-ing, as normal," Nurse Shue said, "You just missed her. Thank you for the Roses Jeon Jungkook. You don't have to do this. Every time you come to visit Jinny, you bring me a present also. Why is that?"

"Because you saved my life and Jimin's life too. I don't forget heroes very easily." Jungkook said. Jungkook smiled as he saw Soujin coming around the corner to sit back in her seat. "Oh Soujin, you look terrible. My goodness, is your skin supposed to be that green color?" Jungkook said concerned.

"What the hell do you want Kookles?" Soujin turned her back on him and turned to her computer at her desk.

"Language Soujin, he or she can hear you," Jungkook attempted to shoosh Jinny.

"Do I look like I give TWO fucks if this beast can hear me or not?" Soujin was very cranky.

"I bought you some lunch. Nothing that will upset your stomach." Jungkook smiled and began unpacking the beautiful lunch he made for her.

"Everything upsets my stomach you clown. I'M PREGNANT," Soujin raised her voice. An elderly man walking by the Nurse's station with a walker, shooshed her again. She rolled her eyes at the old man and threw a notepad at him.

Soujin was wearing contacts that literally made her pupils fuchsia pink. The overall look gave her the appearance of an evil rabbit. Her hair was now fully black with pink just on the very tips. Her figure was svelte but she had just the tiniest puffiness around her waist; something akin to eating too much at a buffet.

Nurse Shue tried to defend Jungkook, "Soujin, I know you're hormonal but you're being so rude to Jungk…,"

"Blahh-blahhh," Soujin rolled her eyes. She wasn't interested in hearing anything Kimmie had to say.

Nurse Shue pressed on to continue her sentence, "Jungkook, and he doesn't dese…"

"Blah-Blah-Blah," Soujin interrupted again, like a child.

"He loves you. He came all the way here to bring you lun…" Kimmie tried again.

"Blaaahhhhhhhhhh! If he really loved me, he'd take this beast and GO!" Soujin was not in a good mood.

"It's ok Nurse Shue. Don't worry. I can handle this. Soujin, I am excusing your behavior because you are carrying my love child. But when all of this is over, we need to talk." Jungkook burst into laughter. He crouched down beside where Soujin was sitting so that he was face to face with her belly. "I love you my little bread loaf," he said to Soujin's stomach as he smacked her belly button with a big kiss. "And I love you too Momma," He said as he kissed Soujin on the forehead. He gathered himself and started down the hallway.

"I love you too Kookles. Thanks for lunch," Soujin said quietly so that Jungkook could barely hear her.

"You're welcome," he said as he walked through the exit doors of the hospital.

3 Months

Anderson used his key to let himself into Soujin's apartment. It was after 2am and he didn't want to wake a pregnant Soujin. She was very grumpy these days and he didn't want to get an ear full about disturbing her sleep.

Anderson, the lead dancer and lead singer of the group '2-step', was a hugely popular Idol. More than 80% of his time was spent traveling, so when he got to finally come home, he truly relished the time. Anderson missed his sister. Although they went through a tough time after Jackson's death, they eventually found their way back to each other. Jimin, one of Anderson's mentors, insisted that Anderson receive therapy as a part of his contract with HB Agency. He wanted to make sure that all of his mentees were mentally strong. This was particularly important for Anderson, considering the trauma he experienced. Being in the therapy greatly healed his relationship with his sister. Nowadays, she was his best friend.

Soujin was laying on the couch. She had a barf bag laying on her chest as she slept. Anderson could see the ever so slight bump where Jimin and Jungkook's baby was hanging out and relaxing.

Anderson tried to tiptoe past her to get to his room, but he bumped into a chair that was in the middle of the floor and caused it to go crashing to the ground.

Soujin's eyes popped open. She looked around startled.

"Andy, it's you. Thank goodness. You scared me. Why are you here so late? I expected you hours ago. I even cooked your dinner. It's fucking cold now." Soujin said as she let out a huge yawn.

"I know. Sorry sis. Weather is bad. We got stuck on the tarmac for two hours waiting to exit the plane at the airport. On top of that, my Uber got lost. It's been a rough night. I didn't mean to wake you. I'm sorry." Anderson apologized. "Can I help you get back to bed?" He offered.

"Damn boy, I'm loving the teal hair!" Soujin smiled happily at Anderson while she stood up and gave him a bear hug.

"Thanks. The stylists and HB come up with all kinds of crazy colors for our hair. You would think we were OT7 part 2, the way they style us sometimes. We have to remind them that we are our own group with our own identity. Jimin and Jungkook are really good and helping us push that message." Anderson blushed slightly at his sister's compliment.

He threw his luggage on the ground and fell into the chair that he knocked over earlier. Even in a state of exhaustion, Anderson had stunning looks just like his brother and sister.

"I see that little baby growing. How's it been? How are you?" Anderson asked Soujin. His eyes were full of love and pride for his sister.

"I'm fucking dying. Pretty sure this kid is going to kill me." Soujin looked down at her stomach and emphasized the word "kill me" to make sure that baby Jeon Park could hear her. The Doctor says my morning sickness is worse than average. He couldn't give me a reason why. He says it just happens to some women. Lucky fucking me, right? BUT, he has promised that around month six, it should clear up and I should feel better. Until then, me and this kid battle to the death." Soujin snarled at her belly.

"Wow, so it's a lot more than you bargained for huh? I'm so sorry Jinny. How long did it take you to get pregnant?" Anderson asked out of curiosity.

"It took a while. We had to try 3 times with a brief waiting period between each attempt. My body just didn't accept the first two implants. The look on Jimin and Kookles' faces each time we got a negative pregnancy test was just heartbreaking. I honestly didn't think Kookles was going to make it through the process. It took too much out of him emotionally you know? It wasn't easy on me either. I was being pumped full of hormones, fertility drugs and spending 75% of my time in Doctors' offices. Thank goodness, I work at the hospital. And then the third attempt was like a miracle. I got pregnant immediately. Now here I sit, with this growing inside of me." Soujin grabbed her barf bag and heaved heavily. "Hm, guess that was a false alarm."

Anderson sat up on the edge of his seat. He needed to see Soujin clearly for what he was about to ask her. "Jinny. I need to ask you something. You have to tell me the honest truth ok?"

"Ok, I promise. You know I don't lie," Soujin said.

"Can you give this baby up? I mean, when he or she is born, are you going to be able to hand this child over to Jimin and Jungkook and walk away? Let me just flat out say it. Are you going to want a role in this baby's life once it's born?" Anderson was so afraid to ask this question. But he needed to know where Soujin's head was. She was placing herself in a vulnerable position by agreeing to be a surrogate. The emotional toll that it could take on her, was not to be taken lightly.

"Custody! HELL NO! I. DON'T. WANT. THIS. KID. I have a life. I want my life back. I put it on hold in order to help out friends who I love dearly. But I don't want their baby. I hate kids. If it makes you feel better, Jimin has insisted that I remain in therapy throughout the pregnancy to make sure that I discuss my feelings and work through any "surprises" that may pop up. So far, it's been pretty consistent. I hate kids. I don't want this one. The sooner this is over, the better." Soujin said. She looked at Anderson as if he had three heads.

"Whew. Sorry. I had to ask." Anderson laughed. Soujin laughed with him. They spent the next few hours catching up on Anderson's life as an Idol.

"Jeez, it's after 5am KST, I better go to bed. I'm off tomorrow, thank goodness." Soujin got up from the couch and walked towards her bedroom.

"I love you Jinny, I've missed you." Anderson told his sister.

"I love you too boy." Jinny said as she threw up the peace sign over her shoulder.

4 Months

"Why the fuck don't these fit?" Soujin swore to herself. She needed to get dressed quickly. Jimin was on his way over and she really didn't want to greet him in her pajamas.

"Hm. These are the same jeans I just wore two weeks ago." Soujin tugged and tugged at her jeans, trying to pull them over her hips and stomach. She had no success. "Hm?"

Soujin concluded that her jeans shrunk in the wash. She waddled over to her desk with her jeans stuck around her thighs. The front drawer of the desk is where she kept her large scissors. She took the scissors out and cut two deep vertical slits in the waist band on both sides of her jeans. She tried again to pull them on. They still wouldn't come all the way up her hips. She made the slits longer and a little wider. Her underwear was showing on the left side where she had made the cut.

"Ahhh, that's better." Finally, she was able to pull her jeans up passed her waist and stomach. Her favorite T-Shirt had a picture of two men who looked suspiciously similar to Jimin and Jungkook, having sex. She slid the t-shirt on and considered herself dressed. She threw in some blue contact lenses, pulled a brush through her hair and waited anxiously for Jimin to show up.

Her doorbell rang. Soujin rushed to let Jimin in.

"Hello – well look what we have here. Your beauty is stunning. Your glow is lighting up the gloomy skies. Pregnancy agrees with you." Jimin gushed over Soujin as soon as she opened the door.

Soujin knew full well that Jimin was exaggerating. Still, she was thrilled to be complemented by such a gorgeous man. Soujin blushed a light shade of red. She stood aside and invited Jimin into her apartment.

Jimin came in with bags upon bags of groceries hanging from his arms.

"I knew you probably were too sick to go shopping, so I picked up a few things for you. I know Anderson is here visiting and he eats more than Jungkook. You will need plenty of food in the house for you, Anderson and the baby. Anderson told me to tell you that he is at practice. Jungkook is running practice today, so expect him to be there awhile. He's not very light on the trainees these days. Ok, let me start putting the food awa….OH GOD SOUJIN! What's on your shirt?" Jimin screamed when he saw the image of him and his husband having graphic sexual intercourse on Soujin's shirt.

"What is that? Is that me and Jungkook? You can't wear that? How? Where did you?" Jimin was highly agitated and turning red.

"It's an artist's rendering. It's not you. But it looked like you and I thought it was hot, so I purchased it. I think it's pretty cool," Soujin defended her shirt.

"You can't wear that ever in life, ever. Promise me you'll throw that away." Jimin said.

"FYI, I wore this to the Nurse's team dinner last weekend. It was a hit, everybody loved it. So, you're worrying for nothing." Soujin rolled her neck and dismissed Jimin's concerns.

Soujin you can't go around Seoul wearing a pornographic t-shirt that looks like a picture of me and Jungkook fucking. Please, I'm begging you. Take it off right now." Jimin was anxious and uncomfortable.

Soujin went to the bedroom and changed into a plain t-shirt with a message on the front that said, "Let's get naked" Jimin wasn't overly thrilled with that t-shirt either, but he didn't want to press his luck. Soujin gave him the other shirt and Jimin stuffed it in his coat pocket to hide it.

"There are you happy?" Soujin said with anger in her voice.

"Yes I am. You're pregnant, you can't walk around with that on. Wait, I'm sorry. I didn't mean that. You know what? You can wear whatever you want to wear. But I draw the line at a shirt that depicts me and my husband's image so intimately. Please say you understand. OK?"

"Blahh-Blah-Blaaahh, I took the shirt off," Soujin curtly cut off Jimin.

"Soujin. Your pregnancy beauty is rivaled only by your pregnancy crankiness. Can we start again please? I would love to take you to the movies. I know you're off for the next few days, and Jungkook is busy training with Anderson, I thought it would be lovely to have a proper date. After all, I did knock you up," Jimin smiled and held out his arm for Soujin to latch on.

Soujin laughed harder than she had in months. Jimin truly made her happy.

"I would love to go to the movies with you. Since you are Jungkook's baby daddy," Soujin joked. Jimin helped her with her coat, gloves and scarf and they headed out into the chilly air.

Soujin was hungry when the arrived at the movie theater. Hungrier than normal. She attributed her increased appetite to the beast growing inside of her. Jimin was cautious. He knew too well that Soujin wasn't coping well with morning sickness. Yet, he didn't have the heart to deny her cravings. First, she had Coke and Raisinettes, followed by two hot dogs dipped in nacho cheese, (No bun, just dog), next she had a large box of popcorn with extra butter and chocolate poured on top. Lastly, she had two ice cream cones. Soujin was ecstatic and properly content.

"I think we finally found something the beast likes. I feel great. And for once, I'm actually full," Soujin said to Jimin.

"Well that's wonderful," Jimin said. They were two hours through the movie when Soujin decided she wanted Ramen. Jimin fulfilled her wish but now he was really, really concerned about how his little bun in the oven was going to react to all of the food being thrown at it. After a lovely time at the movie, the two of them walked home arm in arm. Jimin walked Soujin up to her apartment. He saw to it that she got inside safely and then he prepared to leave.

Soujin spoke bashfully, "Jimin, may I please ask for a favor?"

"Of course, beautiful. Anything for you." Jimin smiled a lovely smile.

"Will you stay the night with me? I mean, not all night, but just hang out with me until I fall asleep? This baby gives me horrible nightmares. They're so vivid and frightening. When Anderson is here, it's not a big deal because I feel safe. But when he's gone, I get frightened. It's so embarrassing. This has never happened to me before." Soujin looked around, afraid to make eye contact directly with Jimin. She prepared for rejection.

"Oh Soujin, that's terrible. I've heard that women have very vibrant dreams during pregnancy. I would be happy to hang out here with you. What do you say we order up some really old black and white K-Dramas on Netflix?" Jimin pulled off his shoes and jacket and looked for the remote.

"I don't have Netflix in here. Only in my bedroom. Is that ok?" Soujin warned Jimin.

"Why? Who has Netflix on only one Television? That doesn't even make sense – never mind. Your bedroom it is!" Jimin followed Soujin happily into her room. Jimin and Soujin crawled in the bed and propped up on Soujin's pillows to watch television.

"Shoot, my phone is dead. Can I use your charger?" Jimin asked politely.

"I'm Android, you're Apple." Soujin said casually.

"That's right. Well Junkookie knows where I am if he needs me." Jimin decided not to stress over the fact that his phone was dead.

Tae's new series is out on Netflix now. Do you want binge it? Jungkook has seen the entire thing, but I've only seen three episodes. He would sneak and watch it while I was recording my solo stuff in the evenings. I'm pretty sure that's betrayal, right?" Jimin said slighty pissed.

Soujin laughed, "YEP! That is grounds for a divorce," Soujin laughed some more. "Thanks, Jimin. I haven't been this happy…in a while."

They started up their movie and binge watched all 8 episodes of Tae's mini-series. By now it was past 1:00am KST. Jimin and Soujin heard Anderson come home.

"Jinny, I see your lights on, are you still up?" Anderson called out to his sister.

"I'm here with Jimin, we're doing a Netflix and chill like two fucking old people," Soujin insulted Jimin quite accidently since it was his idea to watch Netflix.

"HEY, this is one of me and Jungkook's favorite things to do!" Jimin said affronted.

Soujin corrected her previous statement and yelled out to Anderson, "We're doing a Netflix and chill like two fucking GAY old people." She laughed at herself. Jimin did too.

Anderson appeared in the bedroom, "Hyung, how are you?"

"I'm good, how was practice? Did my husband try to kill you?" Jimin asked.

"He actually did kill a couple of members. The rest of us decided to just leave the bodies there. We were too tired. We'll go pick them up in the morning," Anderson laughed. Anderson stood almost 6ft. He was pretty tall as far as Idols were concerned. He was an imposing figure standing over Soujin and Jimin. "I'm beat. I'm going to eat a little something and then head to bed. We have practice starting again tomorrow at 7am KST. The good news is that Jungkook won't be running it." Anderson bid them goodnight and headed back into the kitchen.

With Anderson's arrival, Soujin expected Jimin to make his escape and head home to Jungkook. But to her surprise, he didn't budge. He seemed content to spend more time.

"So. What's next? Maybe some old black and white love stories?" Jimin asked with his heart full of excitement.

"Sure, we hit age 91, we may as well go for 92, elderly people unite!" Soujin joked again.

After another hour of engrossing stories about love found, love loss, love confused, love rejected, love accepted and love misplaced, Soujin pushed towards the end of the bed so she could stand. Jimin ran around to help Soujin to her feet.

"Jimin forgive my manners. You've been here for hours and I never offered you any water or tea, or beer. Do you want anything?" Soujin was unsteady on her feet for a moment, she suddenly looked very peaked. Without any warning whatsoever, she purged her entire evening's worth of meals onto Jimin. Vomit was everywhere. On his shirt, inside of his shirt, on his jeans, inside of his jeans, on his feet, all over his arms and all over his hands. Soujin fell back to the side of the bed, feeling much better of course.

"Oh Jimin. I – I am so sorry. Oh my God. I- I am so sorry," Soujin was mortified.

Jimin, always the perfect gentleman and easily the sweetest, kindest soul on earth, seemed completely unbothered by the fact that he was covered in vomit. He looked down at Soujin's belly and spoke to his unborn baby,

"You're a stinker you know that? Look what you did to daddy." Jimin was sure that he saw the distinct movement of a baby who was laughing.

"I have a plan. YOU, get in the shower. Give me all of your clothes. I'll wash them. You'll be good as new." Soujin helped Jimin remove his shirt. He started to remove his pants but then remembered that he wasn't wearing underwear. He stepped into Soujin's private bathroom, peeled off the remainder of his wet clothes and handed them to Soujin while hidden behind the bathroom door.

Jimin jumped into the shower while Soujin immediately dropped his clothes in the washing machine. Jimin whistled happily while he washed all of Soujin's puke off of him. By the time he came out of the shower, Soujin had put on her pajamas and was sitting in the bed waiting for him to come out. He was wearing nothing but a towel.

"Damn Daddy!" Soujin exclaimed as she watched Jimin walk out of the bathroom. "Jungkook is the luckiest fucker on EARTH. Come finger me really quick and make me orgasm."

"I will do no such thing." Jimin laughed, "You really have no filter, do you?"

"I do, I just chose not to use it," Soujin replied. "Seriously, give me 45 minutes and I'll have your clothes dry and ready to go. The good news is, I feel much better."

"I would imagine that you do. Your cheese and raisinettes are no longer plaguing you because they are all over my $2000 shirt." Jimin said sarcastically. He propped himself back up on the pillow and flipped the remote. He was determined to get through at least one additional Netflix special. Jimin looked down and noticed that his dick was showing quite prominently through the small towel he had wrapped around his waist. Soujin smiled and made a point to let Jimin know she was enjoying the view. For the sheer sake of modesty, Jimin pulled back the bed sheets and used them to cover his entire lower body.

Anderson was dozing off on the couch. He heard the doorbell ring. He startled awake and slumbered to the door to see who was calling this time of night. Looking through the peep hole, he could just make out the image of Jungkook. He opened the door quickly.

"Hyung. What are you doing here?" Anderson said respectfully.

"Hi Anderson. I'm looking for Jimin. Is he still here? It's almost 3am, I was getting worried." Jungkook walked into Soujin's apartment looking around for Jimin. I tried calling him but he's not answering his phone."

"Yes-Hyung, he's still here. They're in the bedroom." Anderson got a sinking feeling as soon as he said it. He knew it didn't sound good and he was worried about Jungkook's reaction. "I'll take you back there. They're just watching movies."

Anderson led Jungkook into Soujin's room. The most unfortunate scene possible was before their eyes. Jimin was laying in Soujin's bed obviously naked and Soujin was lying next to him in her silk lace pajamas. Anderson spun around to look at Jungkook. He was panicked and had no idea how to handle this situation.

"Hyung, I think they were just err…" Anderson began.

"Jiminie," Jungkook said, "are you ok? I was starting to worry about you." Jungkook walked into Soujin's room and directly to Soujin. He leaned over and kissed her belly, "Hello my wittle loaf of bread." Then he raised up to kiss Soujin, "Hello my sweet Angel baker." Jiminie why are you naked?"

"I barfed on him. He got the full shebang." Soujin answered on Jimin's behalf.

Jungkook laughed hysterically. "Yeah, he's pretty used to that. Don't even get me started on when I was younger and first started drinking. He got barfed on a lot. I even threw up on him once while I was sucking his …nevermind. But he still loved me. I DO NOT understand why. You're beautiful Babe you know that?" Jungkook went over to Jimin's side of the bed and gave him a big kiss.

Anderson was so confused by what he was seeing, that he just turned his back and left. "You like it, I love it, you weirdos." He went to bed.

Jimin went for a deep kiss with Jungkook. When they released he spoke softly to him, "I missed you today. You were gone all day. I don't like being away from you that long."

"I missed you too." Jungkook kissed him again, this time even more passionately.

"HELLO, I am fucking right here you two horn dogs. Oh, shit wait. If you two fuck in my bed, can I watch?" Soujin was serious.

Jungkook giggled as always. Jimin was disappointed. But it was a reminder to them both that maybe they needed to save the affection for when they got home.

"Well now that I know you're ok, I can head home. See ya'." Jungkook said as he started back out of the bedroom.

"Nooo, Jungkookie, don't leave. My clothes should be ready in less than an hour. Please stay and wait with us." Jimin said slightly pouting.

"Ok, Soujin do you mind?" Jungkook asked politely.

"I would freakin' love it. Come on Kookles, stay," She smiled happily.

Jungkook removed his shoes and climbed into the bed between Soujin and Jimin. Jimin and Jungkook bickered over the fact that Jungkook had already watched Tae's entire series behind Jimin's back. Next, they bickered over which Lego movie was better. They finally agreed on Lego Batman Part 6. This resulted in a kiss and a high five to celebrate how much they loved each other.

Soujin looked at the two dorks next to her and realized that this was her new family. She had never felt so warm, so content, so happy and so loved as she did being with them.